Q: What do you call a seagull when it flies over the bay? A: A bagel.

I love me a good Jewish bagel. You can find me on most Sunday mornings scowering the Forest Hill area for the best bagel in Toronto. So when someone told me there is a bagel shop in Ottawa (off all places) selling the best bagels in the WORLD you better believe I had to check it out.

Now if having the best bagels in Ottawa (or the planet, as coined by the ‘Robb Report’ isn’t enough, the bagel shop also has the biggest selection of dark chocolate in Ottawa. Yes, this is where it all comes together. I suddenly became a lady on a mission- chocolate and bagels- the absolute best things to eat, sign me up!

Entering Ottawa’s Bagelshop feels a little like coming home after a long vacation. The delicious smell of a wood-burning oven fills the air and although I have no direct relation to owner Vince Piazza, his warm heart, gentle smile and jolly laugh makes it feel like he is a long lost relative. And with perfectly golden, pleasantly chewy, slightly smoky, and never bready bagels Vince had me singing, ‘Honey I’m home’ in no time flat!

In 1984, Vince brought the first wood burning oven bagel to Ottawa. In between his day job as a teacher Vince would wake up at 4am to stoke the fire. He would work at the Bagel Shop until 8am and then go teach a full day of classes. And if that wasn’t enough, he’d come back to the shop after 4pm and work until close. But all his hard work paid off. “The store was a success since day one. There used to be line ups around the block on Saturday and Sunday mornings full of people waiting for bagels,” explains Vince. The stores small 800 square foot radius quickly outgrew its humble beginnings and required Vince’s fulltime attention. “Our first expansion was to 1,400 square feet and then quickly to 3,000 and today we are 8,000 square feet!” Although, the bagels are absolutely fantastic, it’s Vince’s award winning personality that keep customers coming back for more, year after year. And with each expansion the products grew as well. Here is where we at Choco-locate come in.

Vince has the largest selection of dark chocolate in all of Ottawa. An entire walkway, the size of a large grocery aisle is devoted to the darkest and sinful of chocolaty delights. It’s clear that this shop is more than just authentic, hand rolled Montreal-style bagels. “I had always been a lover of chocolates, especially world renown chocolates,” say Vince. Over the years he has developed a refined taste for dark chocolate. “I was one of the first to introduce Amadeus which I consider to be one of the worlds best chocolates.” It’s also has the big O’s seal of approval, ranked quite high on Oprah’s favourite things list. When I mention this Vince merely laughs and replies, "I've learned how to look for a good chocolate."

O. Town is lucky to have a chocolate connoisseur like Vince on their side. We found intense and exceptional chocolate from the likes of Valrhona, Degas, Vosges lining the shelves and also local chocolate from Olivia Chocolat and Roger’s Chocolate. “I like to distinguish between a chocolate and a candy bar. I love dark chocolate, when you crack it and you smell the aroma and the crispiness,” says Vince. A man after my own heart. And with a selection of close to 300 varieties of Cheese, the perfect pairing is just around the corner. Maintaining that Ottawa Bagelshop and Deli is so much more than just bagels. Visit today: http://www.bagelshop.ca/

Tasty Tours

Put your walking shoes on and dig your heels into the hustle and bustle of Kensington Market. This unmistakable and unique neighbourhood is home to graffiti covered walls, eccentric artists, one of a kind shops and GREAT eats! So, it makes perfect sense to give Toronto foodies and tourist exactly what they want out of this neighbourhood- a sweets tour! These shoes are made for walking and this belly needs to be full! Foodies unite! (Insert three long strides, jump, high five!)

Audrey Ooi is the girl genius behind Tasty Tours and believe me she has done her homework. Did you know that at the end of the ’Seven Years' War’, France decided to trade French Canada (including Quebec) for sugar-producing islands, such as St Lucia? (Yes, we could have lost our precious, ever humble and reserved Quebecois.) Audrey is full of these tasty facts, as I met the tour group on a rainy Friday at a Chinese bakery on Dundas and Spadina. The tour begins here at the Butterfly Bakery over a plate of flaky egg tarts to assemble and get down to eating. What’s an egg tart you ask? Picture a buttery and crumbling pastry shell fill with an egg custard. Think quiche meets mini apple pie. After finishing our egg tarts (and me taking a mental note to come back for a steal of a deal, what resembles a massive chocolate Swiss roll affordably priced at only $3.99, unheard of!) we are on the move. Audrey doesn’t miss a beat and we are off to the heart of Kensington Market.

Standing beside Audrey is like walking with a human pastry and chocolate encyclopaedia. She is a wealth of knowledge and it’s easy to tell this is her passion. The tour is busy, thanks to a recent Groupon venture.

And Audrey is all smiles, despite the rain and juggling this tour gig with her full time job. "Did you know cupcakes also used to refer to a method of baking a cake using cup measurements, not just the dessert treat we call a cupcake? " says Audrey.

We have conveniently stopped in front of Cora’s Kitchen. The group piles into the cozy shop and sure enough there is Cora and the most decadent cupcakes. Colourful frosting and rich, moist cupcake base- yum! If you haven’t checked out Cora’s pastry delights you are in for a treat. Arisanal perfection, the freshest of ingredients, and a little love to our Vegan friends. If Cora wasn’t such a hottie I would say it’s like entering your Grandmothers kitchen. Then we are handed the most perfect cupcake and the group is all smiles! Audrey lets us in on some more educational facts and suddenly we all forget about this miserable, rainy day.

The tour is off to our next stop to the Chocolate Addict and I get my chocolate fill! If you haven’t been to the Chocolate Addict before, check out our featured article here http://choco-locate.com/shops/chocolate-addict/and be sure to try the green tea truffle. Now by this point I am getting pretty stuffed and we are only half way. My biggest advice, come on an empty stomach. You have been warned!

Hit the pavement and eat your way through the glory that is Kensington Market. I don’t want to give away all of Audrey’s secrets so I will leave out some of the other stops on the tour. But let me tell you, they are pretty sweet. And did you know that marshmallows used to come from the sap of a marshmallow plant? Yah, me either. Sign up for a tour today at http://tastytourstoronto.com/